The Unofficial SMART Scholarship Forum

Aside from start date there was no negotiation at my SF sadly. Good luck!

Yeah, I didn't trust the link so I tried to reset myself, had my account locked then got a link to unlock and requested a password reset.

I didn't pay Quarterly because I had no idea what I'd end up paying. I'd suggest using a tax calculator so you're prepared for what you're most likely going to owe, but I didn't end up owing anything extra for not paying quarterly! You're totally fine this year as you're only being paid for the last...

1)Apply for your highest degree level you'll have before your planned full time work start date. Also request the scholarship for the entire duration, don't expect an extension. You get a slightly higher stipend if you're a PhD and it will change your starting salary. 2) I would put the undergrad on...

I believe they're just moving scholars around to different people or getting new people in and distributing the work load. I was assigned to Pam B and she was my coordinator for AF since day one of LMI, then very very recently we got an email saying some of us would be switched to someone else. I ha...

-China Lake has a huge R&D program, they're a good one to look at and they're on the R&D payscale.
-SMC (Los Angeles) is an acquisition base, there's very limited R&D and generally it's not the civilians doing the R&D but rather the Contractors for what tiny bit there is.

I was offered a job start date about 2 months after graduation, I ended up pushing and just started this week.

Your SF will get this process started. They should contact you before next summer, but my SF for example didn't contact us until late march of our first internship year.

*not an accountant and am not completely accursed te on my %s* There is no rule either way. You can pay quarterly to make smaller payments 4 times a year instead of one big one. I personally did not pay any taxes ahead of time. You risk the possibility of a late fee by not doing so, but if they come...

I'm not starting until September. Earliest I could have started (when they got all the paperwork done) was first pay period of July.

AAAAAAA wrote:

kbl2017 wrote:Nothing yet

Thank God I'm not alone, hope it's tomorrow because if they pay us in literally the last week of July I'll be ~pissed~

Right!
Fingers crossed we get it this week!!!

Nothing yet

When you apply in the fall you are applying for the next school year, so it would cover your junior and senior year. The application cycle is due in December, awarded sometime late spring, then start the program in the fall.

SMART should fall under an outside funding source no different than your parents paying. Financial aid is government assistance like work study, it would be through your FASFA - which I didn't even fill out when I had SMART paying. Officially SMART is not even paid by the government, it's paid by LMI.

No, you should be hired as a full time civilian. If you're not it wouldn't even count towards your service commitment. They also want you to continue working for them after your commitment it's not like a 2 years and then leave type deal (unless you want to leave). Assuming someone has been talking ...

BofA here - also got paid

3rd Friday of the month is the specified time, the first day of this month was a Saturday so it's not till next week that we'll get it!

This month falls super late because the last few have been in the teens, but I've never not gotten it in the 3rd week since starting the program two years ago.

You should keep getting paid until you give them your start date. The stipulation to that is if it's an extended period past the 90 days they may ask you why it's taking so long.

I would highly suggest, assuming you can afford it, making all your plans as soon as you're approved to travel. You should be paid before your visit but I think mine was less than a week out. The hotel was pay upon arrival, but I got the flights for (made up numbers) $200 rather than $500 if I had w...

I had something like a 3.2 - the grading rubric type thing is somewhere on this forum, you're disqualified under 3 otherwise it's fair game. If you're applying for an undergrad scholarship your GPA is a much bigger portion of your selection, if you're applying for a grad school scholarship your rese...

We were told they won't pay for any relocation now - our base told us it had something to do with SMART saying it's not allowed because we continue getting support stipends even after we graduate? I'm personally not sure why that matters because we still need money to live on.... but that's what we ...

For grad school you didn't even have to be accepted yet so I'm sure they let you transfer to a new school for the fall.

Last year I heard from my SF in early February, I wouldn't worry too much.

So the DoD receives non-annual funding so the civilians aren't effected except for the coast guard - but there is minimum manning and such going on. As far as I understand, I think all our funds are transferred to LMI when we start the program so the stipends etc. would not be impacted by anything w...

My HR person at my SF has said they will give me extra time to move there because of the distance and cost (12 hours from my University and NJ is expensive). It has yet to happen yet because I haven’t graduated yet, but I believe your start date is something you agree on with your SF. ^^^ Your loca...